Li Yu¡¦s Theory of Chinese Opera
Abstract
Li Yu (1611-1680) is a renowned Chinese opera writer in the early Qing dynasty. His work ¡§Ten Operas¡¨ features surprising plots and easy-to-understand scripts, criticized as ¡§intended to make common¡¨ and ¡§simple to comprehend¡¨, reflecting his writing attitude and style in developing popular and entertainment culture. This deviates himself from the literary direction of drama (chuanqi) writing since the mid-Ming dynasty. In addition, Li Yu is also a Chinese opera critic. The ¡§script¡¨ and ¡§play act¡¨ sections in his ¡§Xian Qing Ou Ji ¡¨(Journal of Leisure Time) discussed mainly the writing and performing of Chinese operas. The journal was written after the publication of the ¡§Ten Operas¡¨, which can be regarded as a summary of Li Yu¡¦s seasoned experience in writing Chinese operas. The journal is also a main research subject of this study. Literature on Chinese operas in Ming and Qing dynasties is rich. On the format, some focused their discussions in a specific book while some discussions were found scattered in anthologies and critics¡¦ notes. On the content, some examined the stories from historical perspectives, some centered on the wording as well as on tones and singing skills; or some were precise investigations on the development of Chinese opera history. The literature is documented with quite a few unique perceptions on the presentations of Chinese operas. These critiques, even as specific works, only present checklist style discussions. Some greater volumes manage to categorize various works but yet to conclude a coherent theory on Chinese opera. The results are usually unsystematic. Li Yu¡¦s theory is distinguished as having a subjective intension to establish a critique system on Chinese operas. In other words, he intended to construct the foundation and writing principles that ¡§others can follow¡¨ and clearly control the essence and development of Chinese operas. His emphasis of ¡§structure¡¨ in making critiques is the result of fully understanding the ¡§dramatic characteristics¡¨ in Chinese operas. Li Yu presented his theory mainly in the ¡§Xian Qing Ou Ji¡¨ with the ¡§script¡¨ and ¡§play act¡¨ sections, the ¡§script¡¨ section stressed on the writing theory while the ¡§play act¡¨ on the presentation. ¡§Dramatic presentation¡¨ is related to the professionalism of actors, not judged by writers¡¦ imagination, thus there are not many discussions on the performance. Li Yu doubled himself as writer and director and developed a system of perception and opinions of his own towards performing Chinese operas. Comparing his writing and presenting Chinese operas, the latter is weaker in depth than the former. Some of the discussions on presentation focus on how to handle scripts on stage and can be regarded as the extension of script writing. Therefore this study is led to focus on Li Yu¡¦s writing. Although Li Yu intended to establish a theory and principle of Chinese opera writing in the ¡§Script section of the Xian Qing Ou Ji¡¨, he only managed to reinforce the importance of the ¡§structure-first¡¨ principle and categorized rhetoric system, tonal pattern, rhyme scheme, conversation and humorous acts with the supplementary discussions of Chinese operas¡¦ ¡§forms¡¨. His categorization seems yet to reach a literature theory defined by modern literary norms. Actually Li Yu produced versatile discussions on Chinese operas. Some of his discussions are related to the fundamental definition, characteristics and functions of Chinese operas. Some belong to the construct of literary principles of Chinese opera. Some are the exploration of the principles and practical skills of Chinese opera writing. Furthermore, there is some comment on some specific works, as well as the discussion of different presentation styles in terms of the development in literary history. Li Yu made a clear intension in constructing the theory of Chinese opera, yet there is quite some space for adjustment in certain areas. Thus this study tries to integrate and summarize Li Yu¡¦s theory on Chinese opera, in a hope of re-constructing and re-translating from modern literary perspectives for eliciting more meaningful implications. During the process, the most important task is to analyze and formulate a theory structure on Li Yu¡¦s perspectives as three major aspects: fundamental theory of Chinese opera, theory of writing Chinese opera and theory of presenting Chinese opera. Fundamental theory of Chinese opera discusses the basic features of Chinese opera as the fundamental basis to construct theories on writing and presentation. These theories also project that his emphasis on the special formulation of Chinese operas and stagecraft. These distinguish him from other theories on Chinese opera in his contemporary era. This study develops as the following structure: Chapter one ¡§Introduction¡¨ states the research motives, scope, methodology and thesis summary in addition to the description of Li Yu¡¦s life and his literary achievements. Chapter two ¡§General Discussion¡¨ explores Li Yu¡¦s fundamental theory of Chinese opera, including the discussions on the artistic characteristics, position of Chinese operas in literature, the essence of Chinese operas, core values in appreciating Chinese operas and functions of Chinese operas ¡Ketc. Chapters three to seven are on theory of Chinese opera writing. Principles and standards in writing Chinese operas are discussed in terms of specific elements that compose Chinese operas. Chapter three ¡§Plot¡¨ redefines viewpoints on the structure in Li Yu¡¦s theory of Chinese opera. Chapter four ¡§Format¡¨ describes the regular formation of traditional Chinese opera presentation after the discussion on structure because set formation results in certain impact on the presentation. Chapter five ¡§Characters¡¨ is on the roles in Chinese opera. Li Yu embedded character formation in the design of plot structure, without independent character theory. The chapter is limited to the relationship among the language of characters, character descriptions and roles. Chapter six ¡§Language¡¨ discusses the common features of opera languages: rhymes and scripts, including the characteristics of representatives in
Chinese operas and the standard the opera language should have. Chapter seven ¡§Rules of Tones and Rhymes¡¨ is divided as rhyme scheme and tone patterns with rhyme scheme as the main theme for discussion. The chapter also establishes the common principles of ¡§rule abiding¡¨ and proposed concrete suggestions on handling the rhymes and tones. Finally the thesis discusses Li Yu¡¦s theory of Chinese operas presentation in terms of scripts processing before performance, actor training and guiding and stage presentation. These concluded chapter eight ¡§Performance¡¨. It is hoped, through this thesis, to establish a specific theory structure of Li Yu¡¦s works on Chinese opera.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0724104-211443 |
| Date | 24 July 2004 |
| Creators | Liu, Yo-hsien |
| Contributors | Hsin-yi Hsun, none, none, Jen-nien Chai, none |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0724104-211443 |
| Rights | unrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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